Helping a horse who's fallen on a slick surface stand up

[Risk-Averse Rider]

This happened this weekend in our neighborhood and now I've got the heebie-jeebies thinking about how to cope with it... because we ride where it happened.

There's a city-maintained trail around a new gated subdivision. It's a nice trail, far enough off the busy roads to feel safe, and it makes a nice change from the usual trip through the wash.

Apparently the builders (or the city - not clear who did this) recently re-paved one of the entrances into the subdivision, and the pavement there is really slick. A woman's horse slipped and fell, & it took them half an hour to get the horse back on its feet. Another friend reported that her horse had slipped there, also - but hadn't gone down, just slipped badly and splayed its legs.

So now I'm trying to envision just what could be done with a horse down on a slick surface like new asphalt or new concrete.


Letters have been written to the city about this, and word is getting out among the Ladies Who Ride in the 'hood, but what's the best thing to do in such a situation?

[ShotenStar]

Good question ...

Having dealt with a horse down on ice, I would be looking for something to put under his legs to give him traction: a heavy blanket, sand, dirt, carpet sections, the jute or rubber mat from a trailer, etc. This needs to be done carefully to avoid being struck by hooves if the horse is struggling. If there is a grass edge close enough, you can also try rolling him over so that his feet are closer to the grass ... this would be my last choice of actions.

*star*

[Risk-Averse Rider]

Good question ...

Having dealt with a horse down on ice, I would be looking for something to put under his legs to give him traction: a heavy blanket, sand, dirt, carpet sections, the jute or rubber mat from a trailer, etc. This needs to be done carefully to avoid being struck by hooves if the horse is struggling. If there is a grass edge close enough, you can also try rolling him over so that his feet are closer to the grass ... this would be my last choice of actions.

*star*<snicker> Grass.

Yeah.

(Sorry - we're in the desert here. And really, if one of my horses fell down near grass, he would somehow squirm his way over and just lie there chowing down.)


I guess I need to pay more attention to how my horses get up when they're lying down. They're not *usually* flat out on their sides, though. Most often up on their chests already.

I'll have to try to find out how they finally managed to get this horse up. I had thought about sand, but I would expect it would be easier to gain traction from sand on ice than on something truly solid like concrete or asphalt.

<shudder>

I just don't even want to think about it.

What did you end up doing with your ice-bound horse?

(and sorry for snickering... it just struck me as funny to think of there being grass around here...)

[BornToRide]

Were the horses shod? This can be a problem with shoes on smooth surfaces. You'll need to use extra caution when riding with shoes on such surface, You want to prevent such a fall at all costs.

I would try to minimize any additional struggle and possible injuries as much as possible and would seriously consider pulling shoes, especially when material cannot be found that might provide some traction.

[sublimequine]

Were the horses shod? This can be a problem with shoes on smooth surfaces. You'll need to use extra caution when riding with shoes on such surface, You want to prevent such a fall at all costs.

I would try to minimize any additional struggle and possible injuries as much as possible and would seriously consider pulling shoes, especially when material cannot be found that might provide some traction.

I think I'd be putting boots on over the shoes, instead of pulling them. That way the horse can have the added traction of the boots when they need them.

As for helping a downed horse, as others said, I'd be throwing anything I could under/around the horse's legs to add traction.

[BornToRide]

I think I'd be putting boots on over the shoes, instead of pulling them. That way the horse can have the added traction of the boots when they need them.

As for helping a downed horse, as others said, I'd be throwing anything I could under/around the horse's legs to add traction.
Yes, that would definitely also work if some are available :)

[staceyk]

Having had a horse fall on an ice patch and struggle to rise, I can tell you that hay strewn across the surface DOES work. Just a little hay gave him traction to rise on the first try. Had I had it handy, dirty bedding would probably have provided more stability.

On a side note, the struggling horse was injuring himself as he tried to rise, and I could see blood dripping on the ice. In my panicked state, I held him down by the halter, pulled him down on his side, and said "please stay down."

Would you believe he stayed down and stopped struggling while I ran to get the hay flakes? What a good boy!

[Risk-Averse Rider]

Having had a horse fall on an ice patch and struggle to rise, I can tell you that hay strewn across the surface DOES work. Just a little hay gave him traction to rise on the first try. Had I had it handy, dirty bedding would probably have provided more stability.

On a side note, the struggling horse was injuring himself as he tried to rise, and I could see blood dripping on the ice. In my panicked state, I held him down by the halter, pulled him down on his side, and said "please stay down."

Would you believe he stayed down and stopped struggling while I ran to get the hay flakes? What a good boy!What a good boy, indeed!

[Risk-Averse Rider]

I think I'd be putting boots on over the shoes, instead of pulling them. That way the horse can have the added traction of the boots when they need them.I wondered about boots. Of course, that would require having boots available.

Don't know if the horse was shod or not. I drove past what I *think* is the place this happened this evening, and it's just flat, brand new asphalt. Level, no slope to it... just flat asphalt.

I will try to find out more details.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[hank]

My daughter suggested her favorite tool--duct tape... would probably only work on pavement, cement or slick rock, not ice, but several layers over metal shoes might give enough grip to get a horse out of the situation. Or several layers and then a wrap or two of the sticky side out. It's something a lot of people carry in their saddle bags, so, could be readlily available. In my biased opinion, she's brilliant........:D

[BornToRide]

She is and duct tape is so darn versatile :winkgrin:

[apachepony]

Here's what we do for horses in heavy bandages or casts who can't get up:

The first thing would be to calm the horse down. If they are panicking, they're not going to get up any easier. You can kneel on their neck to keep them down until they regain their sanity.

Then let them roll sternal, and help them get their front feet out if they can't/won't do it themselves. Have one person at their head, and one at their tail. Each person maintains a hard, steady pull to give the horse something to brace against while they try to get up. Unless the floor is really slippery, usually one person with all their weight on the lead rope is enough.

Obviously that would be alot harder with a bridle on, but in an emergency, you use what you have.

[Beverley]

When I lived in VA, my vets' solution for horses down on ice was to affix ropes and 'gently' pull them to an area where they could get traction before attempting to get them up. I don't see that as a good solution on pavement, though.

In general, if I know I'm going to be doing a lot of riding on pavement, I get the little borium pins affixed to each heel of the horse's rear shoes- one can do it on all four shoes but over the years, including hunting on lots of blue ice back in VA, I've found that having the traction on the hind end works well for the horse and avoids potential strain to the front legs from all that extra traction.

[oldbutnotdead]

Also, could the city be persuaded to "texture" the surface, perhaps allowing horses to avoid the problem in the future?

[BuddyRoo]

Here's what we do for horses in heavy bandages or casts who can't get up:

The first thing would be to calm the horse down. If they are panicking, they're not going to get up any easier. You can kneel on their neck to keep them down until they regain their sanity.

Then let them roll sternal, and help them get their front feet out if they can't/won't do it themselves. Have one person at their head, and one at their tail. Each person maintains a hard, steady pull to give the horse something to brace against while they try to get up. .

:yes: This. I think the first thing I would do is try to get the horse calm. Head down. Sane. Part of my logic here is that when they are scrambling they are much more likely to hurt themselves. If you can get them calm, inspect them for injuries, THEN let them roll and get sternal and get up "normally" they probably have a better shot of not getting hurt. (and you not getting hurt!)

I've not had a horse go down on pavement, but have had problems with ice.

[Risk-Averse Rider]

Also, could the city be persuaded to "texture" the surface, perhaps allowing horses to avoid the problem in the future?We certainly hope so! They put this trail in (and maintain it)... so one would think they would address this issue.

It's a pretty horse-friendly town, all things considered.

[Risk-Averse Rider]

My daughter suggested her favorite tool--duct tape... would probably only work on pavement, cement or slick rock, not ice, but several layers over metal shoes might give enough grip to get a horse out of the situation. Or several layers and then a wrap or two of the sticky side out. It's something a lot of people carry in their saddle bags, so, could be readlily available. In my biased opinion, she's brilliant........:D
I agree about the brilliance! :yes:

I had been thinking about vet wrap, also. It only needs to hold up long enough for the horse to get up, and it might be stickier than duct tape.

[goodhors]

We use pin studs on any horse that will be doing road work. They are VERY grippy on all hard surfaces, cement, tarvy, asphalt. They are no trouble on grass or dirt, do not affect the horse or his way of going in work. Just gives grip when needed on hard surfaces. Will add a bit to your shoe bill. They are drive in studs, just need a straight hole in the shoe. We went to the pin studs as soon as they were available in the USA. Lots of years using them, still love them. Way better than Borium or Drill-tek.

Boot fitting can be a problem if horse hoof is not boot shape. Also boots can be time consuming to put on and off to just cross the road, carry with you the whole time for EACH ride.

The only place I have not seen pin studs not work well is a certain piece of cement on Mackinac Island, which seems to be made of marble. Just the oddest thing. The Island horses wear rubber shoes and have no traction problem, but no traction devices on steel, give any grip on that piece of cement. You learn to just hold the horse together, for that two strides, going across. My horses travel a lot, pin studs grip well ALL other places, any surface.

If the city will agree, no bike people to argue, you might get the highway dept to rough up or score the trail path like the edges of highways. Rumble strips are what they call them here. WAKE you up when you go over the white line!! Those abraded strips would be grippy, still keep the pavement down, and could be rather narrow.

Duct tape is a real good idea, have to try it to see if it would work well. Time consuming for the short time needed.

Barefoot might be OK but asphalt can get slippery if any moisture gets on it, brings out the oil. So sometimes barefoot is not going to be real safe either on a crossing like that.

[hank]

Duct tape is a real good idea, have to try it to see if it would work well. Time consuming for the short time needed.



I suggested duct tape because the in the OP I took it that she wanted a way to get a horse out of trouble, in case not everybody who rides there is prepared. I wouldn't use it as an everyday option to get across, but may carry duct tape or vet wrap with me from now on, just in case I were to run into such a situation. Mostly where I ride I'd need pins about 2 times in a year.

If I were to come up with a permanent answer, it would be that I'd get out there in the wee hours and shovel as much "natural desert" onto the crossing as I thought would go unremarked by the people who live in the subdivision:D:D:D

[Risk-Averse Rider]

If I were to come up with a permanent answer, it would be that I'd get out there in the wee hours and shovel as much "natural desert" onto the crossing as I thought would go unremarked by the people who live in the subdivision:D:D:DI like that!

Another option, of course, is simply to go around that section of asphalt. Assuming it's the place I think it is, you can either walk in the road (also asphalt, but not brand new, and we cross it to get to the trail anyway) or possibly go closer to the subdivision, where they have ornamental pavers.

It's really a strange setup - makes me wonder if they put the asphalt in on purpose for the trail, thinking it would be better than the pavers or concrete.

[hank]

It's really a strange setup - makes me wonder if they put the asphalt in on purpose for the trail, thinking it would be better than the pavers or concrete.

You're probably right--some non horse person asked their cousin's wife's brother's plumber, whose daughter has a horse "which is less slippery, asphalt or concrete" and given only those two choices, that is likely what I would have said, but would have given the caveat that it needed to be "roughed" up!!

[Risk-Averse Rider]

One of these 105+ days, we just need to go out with some sand and sprinkle it on the asphalt - it should sink right in!!

[Beverley]

I agree with the notion they were probably well intentioned but Just Didn't Quite Know what surfacing to use. Actually, I have that issue with a trail on land I manage- they asphalted the pretty good sized slope going down the hill, very dangerous for horses. One problem was, they had to have some asphalt because part of the use of that trail was access for adjacent landowners. Another was, without the asphalt it would be nigh well impossible to prevent significant erosion on the slope. Actually you are reminding me I need to go check on that- we had decided that the fix was to build up the berm so as to allow enough unpaved surface adjacent to the asphalt for the horses to get safely down the hill. But- as has been noted- simply resurfacing with some textured asphalt is something the city might be willing to do.

[Thomas_1]

If the surfaces you ride on are that bad , then you might be better off preventing it happening at all.

That means riding appropriately for the surface, say walking and you may want to even consider tungsten road studs in the shoes.

[FindersKeepers]

My mare slipped on new asphalt this past winter. It wasn't icy, just damp and slippery. She went down hard and fast. Thankfully she remained sane. She lay there for a second, and I could see the wheels in he head turning. She wiggled a little so her feet were on grass, carefully placed each foot, and slowly stood up, testing her footing the whole time.

I just stayed out of her way and talked calmly to her. I was too terrified to try and help and risk making it worse.

So the most important item is to get them sane. if they are panicking, they will only slip again trying to get up, and it will be a disaster.

A great product to add traction is cat litter. Maybe sneak over there under the cover of darkness and sprinkle that around ;)

[tikihorse2]

I had a terrible, terrible experience with this very thing last summer. My arthritic older boy Tiki fell down when he was having his hoofs trimmed. He could NOT get up as he was in a rather awkward spot in the barn aisle and the flooring was concrete.

We finally ended up getting a large piece of plywood under him, boring a hole in it, and dragging him with a Green Machine into the indoor ring. There we were able to get him into a better position via ropes on his legs.

I can write about this calmly now, but it was awful when it was going on! Wisconsin Equine came out and helped (nothing like saying, "My horse is down" to get the vet out quickly :no:), and I was in tears as he had the "thousand mile stare" and I was truly afraid of what might happen!

The barn floor was resurfaced posthaste. :yes::yes::yes:

Kim

[Risk-Averse Rider]

<RAR makes a note not to tack up the horses next to the trailer when the trailer is on the concrete apron leading to the garage>